86 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



" But to the cedar, Queene of woods, when I lift my be-teared 



eyes, 

 Then do I shape to myselfe that forme which raigns so within 



me, 

 And thinke there she doth dwell, and heare what plaints I do 



utter : 



When that noble top doth nod, I believe she salutes me ; 

 When by the wind it maketh a noyse I doe think she doth 



answer." 



Book 1st. 



The passage is too long, to give the whole of it ; for 

 the verses of that illustrious man are not the most poetica 

 parts of his writings. In another part of this volume, 

 he alludes to the proverbial straightness of the Cedar : 



" As sweet as violets, faire as a lilly is, 



Streight as a cedar " 



Book 2d. 



This passage also has reference to the person of the 

 lady the singer celebrates. Shakespeare makes a similar 

 comparison, in Lovers Labour Lost, where Dumain comes 

 in praising his mistress : " the wonder of a mortal eye :"" 

 he says she is " as upright as the cedar." 



Shakespeare frequently mentions the Cedar : in Henry 

 the Sixth, the 2d part, Warwick says, in answer to Clif- 

 JM- 



" This day I '11 wear aloft my burgonet 

 (As on a mountain-top the cedar shews 

 That keeps its leaves in spite of any storm), 

 E'en to affright thee with the view thereof." 



According to Massinger, however, it is not so tenacious 

 of its roots : 



" Cedars, once shaken with a storm, their own 

 Weight grubs their roots out." 



Maid of Honour, Act 3d, Scene 1st. 



